Tennessee golfer drives home 3rd straight NAGA win

Boulder Creek Golf Club and its club pro, Andy Schaper, aced the Southern Nevada sports scene two weeks ago when it hosted the 56th annual National Amputee Golf Association tournament. Kenny Green, a below-the-knee amputee from Murfreesboro, Tenn., won the tournament for the third consecutive year.

Despite a blustery start, the Desert Hawk and Coyote Run courses held up to 105 players and their carts as the 22-year-old Middle Tennessee State University senior shot a three-under-par 213 to beat former NAGA champ, Australia's Geoff Nicholas, by nine strokes.

Nicholas led the field after the first day with a 67. But the kid from Tennessee posted the best scores on the final two days, a one-under 71 and a three-under 69, to shut the door on Nicholas, who skied to a three-over-par 75 on Day 2 and a seven-over-par 79 on the final day.

Green has played barely 10 years but already has his sights on obtaining his PGA card in a year.

"I have plans to (turn pro)," Green said. "I want to graduate in May and then probably stay amateur the rest of the summer and maybe by the fall go to (PGA) school. "

Green's rise to the top started at his father's side.

"My dad started playing and I went out and caddied for him a few times and pulled his cart and he let me hit a shot every now and then and just kind of got me hooked on it," the management student said. "I was 12 and when I was 13 and 14, I could walk the course myself."

Before winning the NAGA championship for the third time and being MTSU's top finisher at the Emerald Coast Collegiate tournament this year, the Clarksville High School graduate lettered in golf all four years and was the Clarksville-Montgomery County golfer of the year in 2000. Unlike many players on the course, Green has had a long time to get used to his amputation.

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"My umbilical cord was wrapped around (my left leg) at birth, so it cut off the circulation, messed up the growth plate and all that, so my parents decided to go ahead and amputate it at six months," said Green, who's engaged to be married to 22-year-old Christie Campbell next June. "Luckily for me, I was born with the situation, so it's a lot more normal for me than it is for a lot of other people out here who've had to go half their lives with having a leg, and something drastic happens and they have to have an amputation."

On the fourth day of the NAGA tournament, 16 players -- eight from the United States and eight from other countries -- teed it up for the sixth annual Robinson Cup, the NAGA answer to the famous Ryder Cup.

Green, who teamed up with Brandon Rowland of Jackson, Tenn., said playing in the Robinson Cup means a lot to him.

"It's fun to represent your country," he said. "I've played on the high school team, college team golf, but playing for the U.S.A., that's a totally different experience."

Unfortunately for Green and the others, the international team triumphed again, its sixth straight championship.


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